Meet the NMD4C Team
Steering Committee
The Steering Committee provides overall scientific leadership, direction, and oversight. Its members are responsible for overseeing progress and coordination between the different work strands, operations, administration, budget, and interaction with knowledge users. They are accountable for the delivery of the scientific milestones and the effective administration of the project.
Hanns Lochmüller
Dr. Hanns Lochmüller leads the NMD4C network. He is a neurologist and clinical academic specializing in neuromuscular disorders. He is Senior Scientist at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) Research Institute and Professor of Neurology at the University of Ottawa and the Division of Neurology at The Ottawa Hospital.
James Dowling
Dr. James Dowling is a Professor of Paediatrics and Molecular Genetics at the University of Toronto, and a Neurologist and Senior Scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children. He represents paediatric NMDs as a member of the NMD4C Steering Committee, leads on genomics education and curriculum, and participates in trial coordination.
Jodi Warman Chardon
Dr. Jodi Warman Chardon is Associate Professor of Neurology at University of Ottawa, Director of the Ottawa Hospital Neuromuscular Centre and co-Director of the uOttawa Centre for Neuromuscular Disease. She represents adult NMDs on the NMD4C Steering Committee and participates in genomics education.
Rashmi Kothary
Dr Rashmi Kothary is the Deputy Scientific Director and Senior Scientist at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI). He represents basic science as a member of the NMD4C Steering Committee.
Stacey Lintern
Stacey is CEO of Muscular Dystrophy Canada (MDC). She represents MDC on the NMD4C steering committee. Stacey holds degrees in nursing and non-profit business management as well as a Human Resources Certificate. She has worked in the not-for-profit sector for over 20 years.
Working Group Members
Aaron Izenberg
Dr. Izenberg’s clinical focus is in the diagnosis and management of patients with neuromuscular and neurological disease. He has particular interest in management of motor neuron diseases (including ALS and SMA), myopathy, myasthenia gravis, peripheral neuropathy, as well as urgent neurology.
Alberto Aleman
Dr. Alberto Aleman is a neurologist at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario. Within the NMD4C, Dr. Aleman is a member of the Curriculum Development working group.
Bernard Brais
Dr Bernard Brais is Professor of Neurology and Human Genetics at McGill University in Montreal and co-director of the Montreal Neurological Institute’s Rare Neurological Diseases Group. His lab has focused on identifying new genes and mutations that cause hereditary diseases that are more prevalent in the French Canadian population of Quebec due to founder effects.
Cam-Tu Émilie Nguyen
Dr. Cam-Tu Émilie Nguyen is a pediatric neurologist specialized in neuromuscular disorders at CHU Sainte-Justine in Montreal and is the medical director of the Neuromuscular clinic at Marie Enfant Rehabilitation Centre of CHU Sainte-Justine
Christen Shoesmith
Dr. Shoesmith is an adult neuromuscular neurologist at London Health Sciences Centre. She is the medical director of the Motor Neuron Diseases Clinic at University Hospital in London.
Craig Campbell
Dr. Craig Campbell is affiliated with the Thames Valley Children’s Centre and the Pediatric Neurophysiology Laboratory at Children’s Hospital London Health Sciences Centre. He is a Full Professor in Pediatrics, Clinical Neurological Sciences and Epidemiology at Western University and a Scientist at the Children’s Health Research Institute.
Cynthia Gagnon
Dr Cynthia Gagnon is a professor at the School of Rehabilitation at the University of Sherbrooke and a researcher at the Centre de recherche Charles-Le Moyne-Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean sur les innovations en santé. Her work aims at improving clinical care and speeding up trial readiness in the most prevalent neuromuscular diseases in Canada. Within NMD4C, Cynthia is lead for knowledge translation.
Daria Wojtal
Dr. Daria Wojtal is the Director of Research at Muscular Dystrophy Canada. In her current role at MDC Daria oversees Research Investments including the design, implementation and monitoring of comprehensive business strategies, budgets, plans and procedures related to the research portfolio and its funding opportunities as well as the generation and review of medical and scientific educational content.
Élise Duchesne
As an independent researcher, Dr. Duchesne’s works focus namely on developing rehabilitation interventions. She carried out original and innovative experimental designs based on her knowledge in muscle physiology and her access to the large cohorts of NMD patients found in the Saguenay–Lac-St-Jean region such as myotonic dystrophy type I (DM1).
Gerald Pfeffer
Dr. Pfeffer is a clinician-scientist at University of Calgary. He did Neurology specialty training at UBC and Genetics PhD at Newcastle University. His clinical and research work focuses on adult-onset neurogenetic conditions.
Hernan Gonorazky
Dr. Gonorazky co-leads the NMD4C’s work in developing a clinical research curriculum for neuromuscular fellowship programs. He completed his residency in adult neurology and afterward he did his specialization in adult neuromuscular disorders. He continued his studies in paediatric neuromuscular disorders at Sickkids in 2014 and became a permanent Staff in 2019.
Homira Osman
Dr. Homira Osman is the VP of Research & Public Policy at Muscular Dystrophy Canada. Her background is in clinical audiology, neuroscience research and knowledge translation. In her role, Dr. Osman has overall strategic and operational responsibility for all elements of research, knowledge translation, clinical relationships and advocacy work at MDC.
Hugh McMillan
Dr. Hugh McMillan is a Professor of Pediatric Neurology at the University of Ottawa, a Pediatric Neurologist and Neuromuscular specialist at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) and a Clinical Investigator at the CHEO Research Institute.
Jason Karamchandani
Dr. Jason Karamchandani is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology, and is a neuropathologist at The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital. His clinical specialty is neuropathology and anatomic pathology. His laboratory at the Neuro examines pathologies of both the central nervous system as well as neuromuscular disease.
Kathryn Selby
Dr. Kathryn Selby is Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia, Medical Director of the pediatric neuromuscular program of BC and the Yukon, and an investigator at BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute.
Kessen Patten
Dr. Kessen Patten is an Associate Professor at the INRS-Institut Armand Frappier in Canada. The Patten lab uses the zebrafish to model developmental genetic disorders and neuromuscular diseases (ALS and SMA) to understand disease mechanisms and for drug discovery.
Lawrence Korngut
Dr Lawrence Korngut is a neurologist, clinical neurophysiologist and Director of the Calgary Neuromuscular Program and the Calgary ALS and Motor Neuron Disease Clinic. He is the former chair of the CAN-NMD network and is involved in the NMD4C work on trial capacity building.
Maryam Oskoui
Dr. Maryam Oskoui is a pediatric neurologist, neurophysiologist and epidemiologist. She is a Clinician Scientist and Director of Pediatric Neurology at the Montreal Children’s Hospital, and a Senior Clinical Research Scholar of the FRQ-S with a focus in clinical research and clinical trials in pediatric neuromuscular disorders.
Mona Hnaini
In August 2020, Dr. Hnaini moved to Canada to sub-specialize in Pediatric Neuromuscular at Children’s Hospital London Health Science Centre under the supervision of Dr. Craig Campbell.
Natasha Chang
Dr. Natasha Chang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at McGill University. She obtained her PhD with Dr. Gordon Shore at McGill University studying BCL-2 family proteins and their role in regulating the cell survival autophagy pathway.
Nicola Worsfold
Nicola is the National Vice President Research, Education & Advocacy at Defeat Duchenne Canada and the mom of a boy with Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Educated in genetics and molecular biology, she spent the last 15 years working in biotech and the pharmaceutical industry in areas of infectious disease and hepatology, and later spent most of her time in medical affairs focused in neurology and rare disease.
Patrick Frosk
Dr. Frosk is a clinician scientist at the University of Manitoba in Canada, whose clinical practice includes a wide range of general and metabolic genetics with particular focus on neuromuscular and neurodegenerative diseases.
Reshma Amin
Dr. Reshma Amin is the Director of Sleep Medicine and Long-term Ventilation and a Clinician-Investigator at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Toronto. She is also a Senior Associate Scientist in Child Health and Evaluative Sciences at the SickKids Research Institute.. Within NMD4C Reshma is working on the development of clinical care guidelines for NMDs and patient advocacy training modules for NMD.
Rhiannon Hicks
Rhiannon graduated from Western University with a Bachelor’s degree in biology. She is the project manager for the Pediatric Neuromuscular Research Program at Children’s Hospital – London Health Sciences Centre, with 13 years experience with the team. Her work within the NMD4C will focus on the development of a clinical trial network and comprehensive research curriculum.
Teresa Buffone
Teresa Buffone leads the Ottawa-Gatineau Myotonic Dystrophy Support Group and is an advocate for the US Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation. Within NMD4C she works with MDC and other knowledge user representatives on knowledge translation to the patient community.
Victoria Hodgkinson
Dr. Hodgkinson is the National Program Manager for the Canadian Neuromuscular Disease Registry, where she oversees the scientific management and coordination of national patient registries in neuromuscular disease.
Network Staff
Erin Beattie
Dr. Erin Beattie is the Network Manager for NMD4C. She graduated with a BSc in microbiology & immunology and an MSc in pharmacology from Dalhousie University, and a PhD in laboratory medicine & pathobiology from the University of Toronto.
James Davis
James is the NMD4C Communications Coordinator. He writes and coordinates all network communications including news updates, the monthly newsletter, the website, and the social media (Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn). He also manages memberships and liaises with the many people and sites involved in the network.
Bonnie Wooten
Bonnie Wooten is the NMD4C Clinical Trial Concierge. Bonnie is a Registered Nurse and project lead and decision coach for pediatrics and families affected by NMDs at Children’s Hospital, LHSC.
Kevin LaFleur
As a research software developer for the NMD4C and the Montreal Neurological Institute, Kevin works with Dr. Jason Karamchandani to develop the technical infrastructure for a centralized Canadian neuromuscular biobanking catalogue.
Patricia Mortenson
Patricia is an Occupational Therapist at BC Children’s Hospital in Vancouver, where she has worked in the Neuromuscular Clinic, among other clinical areas, for many years. In the NMD4C Network, Patricia is involved as Project Coordinator for the Expert Patient Capacity Building Team and will be developing training modules and resources for both patients and researchers to support patient oriented neuromuscular research in Canada.